OICC vs. ICC vs. ETC (AKA: what are you actually doing?)

When I explained to people what I would be doing in Sierra Leone, I was somewhat vague.  This was somewhat intentional since I wasn't entirely sure.  Now, with two days of experience I'll try to make it as clear to you all as it is to me (so, not all that clear really).

The Ebola response involves a number of different centers that all have their own acronym: OICC, ICC, and ETC.  There are probably other kinds of centers as well, but these are the ones I know about.

In the simplest possible terms:

1) At ETC (Ebola Treatment Center) is where they treat patients with Ebola
2) An ICC (Interim Care Center) is where they provide temporary care for children who do not have Ebola and who have not been exposed to Ebola as far as anyone knows, but also do not have another living situation available
3) And OICC (Observational Interim Care Center) is where children who have been exposed to Ebola but do not have any symptoms complete their 21 day quarantine if they are not able to do it at home because there is not a caregiver available

So, I am the OICC Programme Manager with GOAL, an Irish nonprofit.  GOAL itself runs one OICC and will be opening two more, but my job is a bit broader than that.  As these OICCs have been sprouting up throughout the country, there has been a steep learning curve for organizations.  In short, and OICC requires a combination of child protection, psychosocial, and infection control expertise that very few organizations have.  GOAL has put together a team of 6 nurses who specialize in OICCs and our job is to provide training and support to OICCs throughout the country and make sure they are running correctly.  My job, specifically, is to supervise this group of 6 nurses and be the focal point for OICCs for GOAL.  So, that's what I'm doing.  Well, what I'm supposed to be doing anyway.  I would say I still have a lot to learn.

While I'm here, I might as well give you a little glimpse into my day to day life as well.  I live in a 4 story house with other international staff.  Each floor is self-sufficient and I live on the 3rd floor with two of my colleagues.  We have a love balcony where we have our coffee in the morning and the house itself is pretty nice.  However, there have been some challenges like my search for a can opener, which ended today, and my search for a coffee maker/french press/something, which is ongoing.  And our mattresses, which have zero give and feel kind of like sleeping on a piece of wood.

The city itself is really quite nice and we have a great view.  I put some photos on Facebook already, but I'll try to put some more up soon.  The infection control here is really intense.  There are buckets full of chlorine water with little spigots where you have to wash your hands before you go in anywhere from grocery stores to restaurants to our office.  At the office, we have to have our temperature taken by an infrared thermometer before we can go in and if it's too high we aren't allowed in.

As GOAL staff, we aren't allowed to drive so we go everywhere with either a GOAL driver or a hired car.  The car comes to our house at 7:30 every morning so we all help make sure everyone is up and make our coffee (in a little crazy thing on the stove... not quite up to my standards I'm afraid) then we all go off together to the office.

Overall I'm really liking things so far.  It's been easy to jump into the job and I'm enjoying getting to know all of my colleagues.  I'm still fighting jet lag, which has had me waking up at all hours of the night so far.  I think I'm still on a bit of a high since I've just arrived and I know things will surely get more difficult with time, but so far, so good.